My friend and I heard strange whistling sounds with many other people in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

My friend and I left a Wal-Mart Supercenter at 9:45 pm EDT. The store number for this location is 658 according to Wal-Mart's website. As we approached and entered into my vehicle, a whistling sound like a jet landing at close range was heard. The sound began at a high frequency, about 18,000 hertz but decreased in pitch at a constant rate until the frequency of the sound was inaudible. The sound lasted about eight to ten seconds per event and it was heard a minimum of three full times. The first time that I heard the sound, I thought it sounded like a small military jet landing nearby. However, this sound was too pure and ambient like it was coming from many different directions at the same time. My friend and I didn't say anything to each other during the first event, but by the time I started the car and decided to leave the parking spot, we heard it again. The windows in my car were rolled down and I saw a lady at a range of fifteen feet who was two men ask, "what is that noise?" The noise sounded as it did the first time. By then my friend and I asked each other what we thought it was. My friend described it as a jet plane landing but there was no jet. We are not from this area. We were only driving through on our way for a weekend camping trip. We are not familiar with any type of airfields in the area, civil or military. As we exited the parking lot we could hear the sound once again, but this time it sounded more distant. The only explanation that my friend and I could rationalize is if there is some type of very loud, crisp, ambient car stereo technology that is on the market that we are unaware of. This sound was loud and it seemed to permeate through the entire parking lot.

There were a few dozen people walking in and out of the Wal-Mart at this time. It appeared that many people heard these sounds and they were perplexed as we were. It was a warm, humid and hazy night and the sky was unable to be seen due to the haze and the lights from the area. The performance of my vehicle was unaffected. My dog in the backseat of my car seemed tense, but not abnormally so.

((NUFORC Note: We have received several reports recently of sounds, for which there is no ready explanation for what causes them. PD))